Virginia Tech Football: Coach Frank Beamer’s 3 Best Teams

 During his notable college football coaching career at Virginia Tech, Frank Beamer made a point of scheduling contenders early in the season.

But through the 2015 opener versus Ohio State, overall the Hokies were 0-5 against ranked FBS teams in Week 1 since 2004. The Hokies were 0-9 all-time against No. 1 ranked teams. Beamer got credit from some quarters for pushing the envelope, like Soda Popinski taking on Tyson. Critics wonder why they never win those high-profile games.

The fact that the Hokies were usually overmatched just gave the team something to grow on, leading up to bowl time. That kind of preparation always threatened to launch Beamer’s young men into a contending season. Except for the Michael Vick years, the prepping never panned out.

Now that Beamer has retired, what might it take for succeeding Tech coaches to match some of his finest teams? There is a lot of quality football in VT’s recent past. Here are briefings from three of Coach Beamer’s best:

#3 The 2007 team was blasted by second-ranked LSU early in the year, 48-7. They recovered to go 11-3 (7-1 ACC), as QBs Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor combined for 17 passing TDs. Receiver Eddie Royal, who would go on to a successful pro career, caught four of those scores. After losing to Matt Ryan and Boston College, they reeled off five straight wins to end the year, then fell to Kansas 24-21 in the Orange Bowl. The Hokies’ emotional season was underlined by the April campus shootings in Blacksburg.

#2 He had highlights that are still amazing to watch, like the 210-yard rushing effort from behind center against Boston College. Unfortunately, injuries to sophomore quarterback Michael Vick hindered the Hokies in 2000. The team still finished 11-1 overall, only falling to the Miami Hurricanes. Vick saw the signal and moved on to the NFL. The season’s other standout, running back Lee Suggs, began his quest to set the record for most consecutive games scoring a touchdown (57).

#1 In 1999, freshman Vick led the Hokies through their finest campaign. Their undefeated regular season came to a head in early November, with a thrilling last-minute field goal victory at rival West Virginia. By this time, Coach Beamer had helmed Va. Tech for thirteen years. Everything (almost) came together perfectly, as Tech made it to the title game against powerhouse Florida State. Future pros Chris Weinke(QB), Peter Warrick (WR), and Sebastian Janikowski (K) put a late surge on Va. Tech, winning 46-29.

College's Conference Pride is Sick and Dying

Does the idea of college conferences matter in basketball anymore?

Up through the 1990s, naturally it was a source of pride for a fan when his favorite college team was stacked. A North Carolina Tarheel was happiest with a win over Duke. Any combination of games involving Connecticut, Syracuse, and Georgetown made for revelry.

But conference pride existed, too. UNC beating a ranked Syracuse team from the Big East, for example, was almost as sweet. Especially if it happened in the tourney. 

There used to be a running debate about which conference was better and deeper. That argument came to a head from the 1980s through the turn of the century -- the ACC and Big East seemed to almost take turns winning NCAA tournament titles.

Now Syracuse is part of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Texas A & M is in the SEC, and Utah has landed with the Pac-12 (which used to be the Pac-10, I mean the Pac-8).

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The so-called "BCS" conferences... or the

"major six"... or what-have-you... have all shifted in the last fifteen years. A high school sports fan doesn't know about John Thompson's Georgetown teams battling with Dean Smith and UNC; has little clue of the regional angst between observers and local media. The world is more interconnected and smaller, which is why a midwest college joining a conference on either coast isn't as strange as it once may have been.

There is an idea floating around that, within the next decade, the power conferences (read: the money-makers) will break away from all other schools completely.

What does all of this mean? That it is silly to drag out arguments about the "toughest conferences" anymore. Most of the old rivalries are gone, at least for the foreseeable future.

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Media and fans are trying to create new rivalries in an instant. But it seems forced. When top-ranked Syracuse and a talented Duke team faced off in February 2014, their first meeting as conference mates in the ACC, the game went into overtime and excited the fanatics. Within twenty-four hours, people were projecting a legendary contention that would last for the next decade.

We are trying too hard.

Slow down. We have to accept that the old days are gone. Media talking heads from the baby boomer generation can be heard complaining that the Duke-Maryland and 'Cuse-UConn battles have been

interrupted. They need to let it go.

We have to quit this smirking, "Well, Syracuse and Pittsburgh came into the ACC and are two of the top teams, what does that say about their new conference?... that they must not be that good!" It is all speculation.

This is supposedly and historically the BEST conference, and their good team lost to a "lesser" conference foe , therefore it is an upset and worthy of concern... is that "better" conference now falling away?...

What did best conference ever really mean, anyway? When anything depends on the decisions of sixteen- and seventeen-year-old boys as to what university that they will theoretically "attend", what does it mean?

It mean that your schools have the most money, which translates into better facilities, coaches, boosters, perks, exposure, and so on. That's all! There is no magical cloud or spirit that falls on a football SEC, or basketball ACC/Big East from a few years ago, that just makes them superior.

These schools attract better players and personnel because they have more "things" to offer... and from there, the myth builds upon itself, with some help from silly media and fanatics. Conference pride is a dead horse. We can't ride it anymore.